The dynamics of impediments to the flourishing of engineering as a career for women

This paper comprises of a study involving women engineers working in a variety of engineering fields and their experiences highlighting the societal, organizational and personal factors that impact their effective progression into the society as engineers. The primary goal of this paper is to identify the elements that obstruct engineering graduates from being able to implement their engineering skills for better integration into the job market and beyond. Here, although we take the example of the Pakistani society, our findings and recommendations are valid for all societies with similar demographics culturally, religiously or otherwise. A recent study has shown that every year over 5000 engineers graduate from one of the leading engineering universities of Pakistan. About 31% of the engineering graduates are women engineers but disappointingly, on an average only about 30% of the female engineers pursue a relevant career [1]. The staggering number of engineering graduates who are unable to pursue engineering as a career is the major motivational influence of this study. Our aim here is to understand the impact of the plethora of agents that come into play once an aspiring women engineer plunges into the job market and recommend measures that may be undertaken as a society, including pedagogical modifications ranging from primary education to engineering classrooms. We also discuss the possibility of addressing the problem through interaction, collaboration and technology.